


Radstorm Revelations

by nimrodcracker



Series: a blinding flash [11]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Awkward Conversations, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 04:18:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5402717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nimrodcracker/pseuds/nimrodcracker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They spoke in parallel these days. Always with the allusions, and never with the specifics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Radstorm Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> (Yet another example of two idiots tripping over their own feelings for each other)™. Writing this had me giggling uncontrollably.
> 
> P/S Leo's my dude SoSu.

Four walls stood between her and toxic radiation, but she couldn't sit. Didn't dare to, even.

There was something about radstorms that set her teeth on edge: it blew in silently, the greenish tinge creeping across the skies, virtually undetectable in trace amounts until her Pip-Boy starting ticking. Until it became hard to breathe, until her skin started to sting.

Then, her breath caught.

Cryogenation happened like that, too.

"Hey, whatever happened to your wedding ring? I thought you had it glued to your finger since, well, you never took it off."

Piper. She was with Piper.

They were waiting out a storm in an abandoned shack. By the roadside.

Not a vault.

Not a cryo pod.

Not _there._

"It was certainly _not_ glued." Adrián exhaled, jagged shards in every breath. "I just didn't know better. Foolish of me to think that life didn't have second chances."

Her hands strayed to the pair of rings hooked though the cord around her neck. Plain, silver bands, because Leo and her didn't need elaborate trinkets to represent what they meant to each other.

"Another remnant of a rough childhood, I guess. Or being an ex-cop." Adrián shrugged, letting her hands fall away. "You learn to expect the worst. Even during the good times, you're constantly waiting for everything to fall apart. After I stumbled out of the cryo pod, true enough."

Wounds scarred and bruises faded, but lost limbs were just that: _lost_. Leo was that lost limb, and phantom pain ensured she wouldn't forget that, _ever_. 

"Blue, I didn't know." Piper's brows were furrowed, tone contrite. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked."

 _Stop apologising_ , Adrián thought immediately. _You didn't do anything wrong._

"I know." She flashed Piper a smile, brittle and brief, before turning her gaze to dirt-smeared floors.

Silence settled between them like falling dust, and she did nothing. Welcomed it, even. They've come to a point where words were superfluous to undemanding quiet - the _safe_  quiet between friends, because in the Commonwealth, the other meant death; the lull before the reaping.

But safe wasn't enough. Not with the creeping fear on her skin, eyes seeing shadows where there were none.

'twas why Adrián blurted out the first thought that crossed her mind. "Piper, I-uh, I need some advice."

"Oh, Blue," Piper said, curled lips unravelling. "You sound real serious. It's not about that printing press you're building for me, is it?"

"Not at all. I just--figured you're a good person to ask, since you've been living here your whole life. And Miss Publick would know how these things go."

"Sure I do. Though I'd definitely be more useful if you tell me what it's about."

Adrián opened her mouth...and snapped it shut. She bit her lip and looked away.

The wind picked up then, seeping in through the cracks in the walls, whistling a haunting tune. A blinding flash, and Adrián's skin tingled with the ghost of a burn.

"Blue?"

It took her three seconds before she trusted herself to speak. "There's someone. Someone I really like."

Piper had flinched at that, Adrián knew. A slight jerk in Adrián's peripheral view, barely noticeable in the half-light - but not to a former cop.

"Someone who's showed me that there's no gesture too small, because a gesture at all's already more than most are willing to give. Sure, it might not change how raiders or monsters might kill 'em tomorrow, but at least they died knowing how kindness felt like."

Another flash of light, and thunder rumbled in Adrián's bones. A welcome respite, one that pushed down the mishmash of emotions welling up in her chest.

"When the Commonwealth's out to get you, it's easy to forget that. But this person reminded me, and I'll be forever grateful."

"Aw, Blue." Piper was sitting up straight now, gaze squarely fixed on Adrián. "That's so sweet. D'you wanna tell me about him?"

"Her."

" _Her?_  But wasn't Leo-" Piper's eyes widened "- _Ooh_. Okay. Who's she? Some girl from Diamond City? Or that teacher from Vault 81, whatsername...Katy? You were sneaking glances at her when she wasn't looking."

"Love at first sight is bullshit," Adrián smiled, the beginnings of laughter tickling her throat. This was Piper at her best: sniffing down leads, hunting down stories - just for a whiff of the truth.

" _Jesus_." Piper squinted at her with a frown. "Don't tell me it's Curie."

"Piper, a thousand Curies with gleaming metal frames can't outshine her smile!" Adrián laughed, stomach aching from the effort. "Her smile's just--it's so _her_. Warm and defiant all at once. Makes her look unstoppable, but hey, she already is."

Absently, Adrián couldn't help but notice how right the small smile looked between Piper's ears.

"She'd every reason to turn bitter and angry because of the shit life's thrown her way, yet she isn't. Still finds it in her to risk her life if it means helping someone. Growing up rough, being shown-" Adrián caught herself _just_ in time "-no, seeing such selflessness from her makes her so damned likeable. Inspiring, too. Her presence alone already makes me want to do better."

" _Hell_ , Blue. Doesn't take much to guess that you're head over heels for her. So what's the problem?"

"I-well, you don't just go up to someone and tell them that, right? I mean, we're already friends, but I might just weird her out. By saying that."

"Wait, you're actually _nervous_? Adrián Valenti: the lady who takes on raiders with just a pistol, thought it fun to tattoo her throat, and picks locks with her eyes closed?"

"I don't see the correlation."

"You're like this fearless rebel, Blue. The stuff of _legends_. Nothing's supposed to stop you, especially not something as trivial as a _crush_."

Adrián wrinkled her nose. "I don't think this is a crush. I felt the same way towards Leo."

The words were out of Adrián's lips before her brain could process them. This wasn't a sentiment she'd entertained before - only now, with Piper as a sounding board for ideas, had it surfaced. And in its wake, horror twisted her guts, wringing them dry of all sense and level-headedness.

Meanwhile, the grin Piper sported had only widened.

" _Anyway_ ," Adrián insisted, willing the heat on her cheeks to _go away_. "I'm no legend. I'm just another mother searching for her missing child when I'm not solving other people's problems."

She half-expected the mortified look, but Piper barked out a laugh instead.

"Oh yeah. You always kick up a fuss about it, but you still help. That's what matters more."

" _Pfft_." Piper had so much faith in her, it bordered on disturbing. Times like these, Adrián had to consciously clamp the urge to tell her friend that such trust was _horribly_  misplaced - but that was precisely why Piper was so dear to her.

These days, belief was as common as rad-free water.

"If you want advice," Piper began, "I'd tell you to take it slow, and continue what's been working so far. But you know what? I think this girl of yours will notice eventually. Might help if you wore something nicer for a change, to uh, _catch_  her attention. Leather would look good on ya."

Piper stood all of a sudden, closing the distance between them in seconds. She started fiddling with Adrián's collar, dusting off grime and smoothing the fabric with nimble fingers.

"Brown flannel shirts went out of fashion like, three years ago? And these _glasses_ ," Piper sighed, tapping the thin frame with a finger. "No way. Makes you look like a dork. I may find it cute, but your mystery girl might prefer scary and mean instead."

Adrián felt as if her heart was about to punch through her ribcage with every beat. "So you _were_ staring."

"No!" Piper recoiled, stepping back a hairsbreadth, and Adrián wondered why. "Of course not. That'll be...that's weird, Blue. _Really_  weird. But trust me." Piper held Adrián's hand in hers. "Things _will_  work out. You taught me that."

Piper's hands were damp, and Adrián blamed the chilly surroundings. "I lost a kid, my childhood sweetheart and everything I've ever known, yet _I'm_  the ray of sunshine?"

"Maybe not to everyone, but definitely to me. Hazards of being a nosy reporter is the glaring shortage of friends, so you're special to me. Being one of my only friends and all."

They were just words, Adrián knew. Composed of nothing else but letters and sounds. Also, it wasn't like she hadn't had friends before - though she didn't have many before the bombs fell, they were enough.

Yet there was this... _flutter_ in her belly, leaving her lips twitched in a smile.

"You'll tell me who she is someday, right? I gotta tell your girl that she's one lucky soul."

"Definitely," Adrián whispered, hurriedly shifting her gaze to another crack in the wall. "When I find the courage to tell her."

Adrián felt unbearably tense. Her shoulders were stiff, and knuckles white from gripping the edge of the table she leant on. The only thing stopping her from snapping completely was the rustling breeze of a dying storm.

" _Perfect_." Piper had stressed the 'r' again, an inflection of tone that surely came with a devilish grin.

By the time Adrián glanced up to see it, Piper's back was turned.

"Radstorm's gone," Piper said, voice muffled. "Guess we'll go, then? This place's making me feel a wee bit claustrophobic."

"Amen to that." Adrián hung back, watching Piper walk ( _rush?_ ) out of the door.

During the long trek back to Diamond City, countless thoughts yearned to free themselves from her locked lips, but one stood out more than others.

_No, silly. It's you._


End file.
